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Easter Island
Imagine a town of 4,000 people situated where Winnipeg is and its closest neighbours were in St John's Newfoundland and Victoria, BC. That's about the way it is in Hanga Roa, the town of Easter Island. Imagine ... a town more remote than Winnipeg! ... just a joke. The Island´s nearest neighbours are mainland Chile and Tahiti, each a 5 hour flight away. The island is directly south of Salt Lake City, Utah and forms one apex of the triangle in the Pacific which marks the Polynesian Islands.
Fortunately I thought about going to the Easter Islands before I reached Santiago. The airline prices are more reasonable the further in advance that you book. One British fellow at the place I stayed booked the day before and paid $800. I paid $400 by booking 7 days in advance, others paid $300 by booking a promotion 21 days in advance.
This is the low season so there were lots of locals meeting the plane to offer accommodation. The cheapest accommodation on the island is camping but I had reserved a room at a rather aloof family run residencia. There were close to a dozen people
View from my room
The first few days were pretty rainy, especially during the night. I pittied the people who decided to rent a tent.when I arrived but by the end of the week there was myself and two American students who were studying a semester in Argentina.
One took a course in Tango theory. Weather changes very quickly. It rained a lot the first few days and poured at night. As the week went by it generally rained less and some days were perfect. But I always carried an umbrella and used it daily. In the Pacific islands it can be sunny with a downpour at the same time.
The large stone statues, moai, for which Easter Island is world famous are scattered throughout the island and you see your first ones coming from the airport. Quite thrilling and you can´t help quickly throwing your bags down and rushing to get a photo in case they decide to leave.The ahu of five moai is called Vai Uri and nearby is a moai with eyes and a hat.
The most famous moai are at the Volcan Rano Raraku in the north east. This is the birth place of the moai. They were made here and ¨walked¨ to their present locations by the ancients. This is a little over 15 km from the
Near Hanga Roa
Smaller moai is of Ahu Tahai.
Larger one is Ahu Ko te Riku village and one day I decided to walk in that direction. The locals are quite friendly and a few cars stopped to offer a lift to this pitiful old soul walking in the rain so I got there quite quickly. The first thing you see from the road is the Ahu Tongariki with its 15 moai. Ahu means Altar. I left my ride when I saw these then walked up the Rano Raraku Volcano which is the rock quarry from which all the moai are made. Spent a day of sunshine climbing to the lake-filled crater and taking photos.
click on link below to see millions of my photos at the kodak gallery The end of the day I started walking home, there´s only a couple of major roads and sure enough I got offered a ride.
Another day I walked up the west coast which is famous for the caves people used to live in. Especially attractive was the cave which exited onto the side of a cliff overlooking the ocean.
The supermarket has minimum provisions and the restaurants can be very expensive.
Fortunately most places include use of a kitchen and often supply a continental
breakfast.
I see that Easter Island was voted one of the ¨modern 7 wonders of the world¨ as of 7/7/07.
Don´t miss
page two of photos in this travelblog, just click ¨next¨
see below AND if you still havn´t seen enough there´s
thousands of more photos at the link
¨Many More Photos of Moai and Me¨ There´s no need to sign in at the Kodak Gallery site, just click ¨View Slideshow¨ then be sure to set the speed of slideshow to ¨muy rapido¨.
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